Fleet Admiral Inner Circle
The Fleet Admiral Inner Circle is a private association of that work independently of the and the , serving directly under Fleet Admiral Kurama. By way of this status, they answer only to Kurama and are exempt from the commands of other Marine soldiers of potentially higher rank, including those of the Admirals. Among them are the closest people to the Fleet Admiral, the only individuals that are privy to Kurama's true motives, intentions, and personal nature. They are often tasked with certain jobs of importance that further the goals of both the Fleet Admiral and the World Government as a whole. Organization The inner circle of the Fleet Admiral is split between three distinct units. Although they are all given different responsibilities, all of their directives are handed directly to them by Kurama and their missions often correlate to his personal interests as the Fleet Admiral. As such, there is no difference in rank or importance between the three units, as they are all vital to Kurama's agenda. *'Fleet Admiral Inner Circle "SHIELD"' (元帥 側近 "シールド", Gensui Sokkin "Shīrudo") is Kurama's personal guard. They are the smallest of the three units; tasked with protecting Kurama during all public events. However, some of them are occasionally given specific varying assignments by Kurama. *'Fleet Admiral Inner Circle "SWORD"' (元帥 側近 "ソード", Gensui Sokkin "Sōdo") is the division of marines that are tasked with missions given to them directly by Kurama. It often falls upon them to handle execution and capture assignments that involve particularly dangerous individuals or organizations that are designated by Kurama as the enemy. *'Fleet Admiral Inner Circle "SPEAR"' (元帥 側近 "スピア", Gensui Sokkin "Supia") is the division of marines that have been assigned long-term assignments. It is their duty to safeguard the Fleet Admiral's interests and ideals, working on various long-term assignments that often result in preventing potential problems from arising while also securing future potential interests. Members Collective Strength Ships * Silver World * Black Pearl History Trivia * The Inner Circle is organized via a weapons motif. Each unit is represented by a specific weapon or armament which signifies their role to Kurama and the organization as a whole. Among the three main divisions of SHIELD, SWORD, and SPEAR, it is implied there are other units as well that have yet to be named. In particular, Ombra Volpe is sometimes referred to as the Inner Circle "DAGGER" unit, due to their role in carrying out assassinations. ** Although inspired by the canon organizations of and , which both represent a sword and shield motif respectively, the Inner Circle is in no way meant to be directly related to those aforementioned groups. However, given the time disparity between the manga and the sitewide canon, it is plausible to say, in-universe, that Kurama derived the division names for his group from those past organizations. Rather than serving as the sword and shield of the , the Inner Circle is meant to serve as the Fleet Admiral's own sword and shield. * Among the Inner Circle, the SHIELD unit all hold a chess piece designation: Haruka is his Queen, his most powerful piece and closest adviser; Raizen is his Knight, a piece which represents strength and impulse to action, usually being a piece that starts first in a game; Stella is his Rook, a sturdy and forceful piece that waits for the right moment and only acts once the board is open for its involvement; Luciana is his Bishop, a piece that represents skill and tactical approaches; Dyan is his Pawn, a piece which almost always starts, for it is necessary in not only helping the other pieces advance forward but also works to set up the board for the strategies of the other pieces. These parallels are inspired by the same chess metaphor used to describe Roy Mustang's unit in the anime and manga series, Fullmetal Alchemist. References